TARP investment in banks repaid with profit

[babylonsister]

TARP investment in banks repaid with profit
By Peter Schroeder - 03/30/11 04:00 PM ET


The portion of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) that went to banks has now turned a profit for the federal government, the Treasury Department announced Wednesday.

After receiving $7.4 billion in TARP repayments Wednesday, the Treasury has now received $251 billion from banks participating in various bailout programs, which is good for a $6 billion profit from the $245 billion originally handed out to banks. The department now estimates that bank investments under TARP will ultimately net taxpayers roughly $20 billion in profit.

Furthermore, the Treasury estimates that all the TARP programs combined — including money doled out to banks, insurance company American International Group (AIG) and domestic auto companies — will result in "little to no cost to taxpayers."

more...

http://thehill.com/blogs/on-the-money/banking-financial-institutions/152835-government-now-turning-a-profit-on-tarp-investment-in-banks

[MannyGoldstein]

1. Repaid out of trillions in loans from the Fed

Did you know that the Fed now owns more than $2 trillion in mortgage-backed junk assets that it purchased from banks?

[vroomvroom]

2. Shhhh...we're suppose to clap, smile, and entertain.

[dkf]

5. You mean the loans made out to the American homeowner?

Funny how we expect the banks to eat it but when we own it then we complain it is junk.

[MannyGoldstein]

6. Can you be more specific on what you mean here?

I'm a little dense this morning, sorry.

[dkf]

7. We feel so sorry for people with these mortgages and want them to get cram downs

And for them not to be foreclosed on, but when we own the mortgages we are outraged at their low quality? I don't understand what we think should have been done with these people. If they should have been renters all along then foreclosing will put them back in this status. If we want them to stay in their houses then why are we complaining how junk the mortgages are?

Lastly if we don't want the American taxpayer on the hook for these mortgages then we need to wind down Freddy and Fannie.

[Pisces]

9. Just this morning.

[Harmony Blue]

3. This is a posititive development given

some in the media predicted that the Treasury would not see any payback.

[fasttense]

4. Not according to Propublica.org, which runs a spread sheet on the bailout

http://projects.propublica.org/bailout/list/index

According to their calculations the government is still owed 50% (about $257 billion) of the bailout.

Recipients: 924 Total Committed: $619,034,603,085 Total Disbursed: $563,705,630,234 Total Returned: $250,825,086,450

"Part of the reason the projected cost is so low is actually the poor performance of the administration’s foreclosure prevention programs, which seem likely to spend far less than the $50 billion initially set aside for them."

[Tarheel_Dem]

8. Rec....n/t

[FrenchieCat]

10. Isn't this a secret too? Cause I haven't heard the mainstream media on this.....

Only on the fact that there was a "big" Teabagger rally yesterday(according to the Russert spawn), reported on MSNBC this morning.